Electronic device with positioning unit

ABSTRACT

An electronic device includes first and second housings which are pivoted to each other, and a spring-biased stopper mounted movably on an upper wall of the first housing. The stopper is movable in a transverse direction relative to the upper wall between an engaging position, in which the stopper projects outwardly of the first housing through the upper wall and engages the second housing, and a second position, in which the stopper is received in the first housing and disengages from the second housing.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This patent application is a divisional application of U.S. Ser. No.10/661,282, filed on Sep. 12, 2003, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,100,876 whichclaims priority to Taiwanese Application No. 091218068, filed on Nov.11, 2002.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

This invention relates to a portable electronic device with apositioning unit.

2. Description of the Related Art

FIG. 1 illustrates a conventional notebook computer 1 including a mainboard module 11, a display module 12 with a screen, and apivot-and-positioning assembly 13 coupled to rear ends of the main boardand display modules 11, 12 so as to permit rotation of the displaymodule 12 relative to the main board module 11 about a first axis (X)and about a second axis (Z) that is perpendicular to the first axis (X).

A pair of spring-biased auxiliary positioning members 14 (only one isshown) are respectively provided to interconnect the main board anddisplay modules 11, 12 to enhance positioning of the display module 11.Each of the auxiliary positioning members 14 is mounted movably on arespective side of the main board module 11, and engages releasably arespective side of the display module 12. A releasing member 142 isprovided to disengage each auxiliary positioning member 14 from thedisplay module 12.

The conventional notebook computer is disadvantageous in that thedisplay module 12 tends to rub undesirably against the auxiliarypositioning members 14 during rotation about the second axis (Z).Moreover, if the display module 12 is misaligned with the main boardmodule 11 during closing of the notebook computer, the screen of thedisplay module 12 may undesirably strike against one of the auxiliarypositioning members 14 and be damaged.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide anelectronic device with a positioning unit that is capable of overcomingthe aforementioned drawbacks of the prior art.

According to this invention, there is provided an electronic device thatcomprises a first housing having an upper wall and a rear end, the upperwall being formed with a pivot-mounting hole adjacent to the rear end ofthe first housing; a pivot unit being rotatably mounted in the firsthousing and including a rotatable part that projects upwardly throughthe pivot-mounting hole and that is rotatable relative to the firsthousing about a first axis which extends in a transverse directionrelative to the upper wall of the first housing; a second housing havinga rear end that is pivoted to the rotatable part so as to be rotatablerelative to the first housing about a second axis which is perpendicularto the first axis and so as to be rotatable together with the rotatablepart about the first axis relative to the first housing between oppositefirst and second angular positions; a positioning unit mounted in thefirst housing and including a spring-biased stopper that is disposedadjacent to the rotatable part, and that is movable in the transversedirection relative to the first housing between an engaging position, inwhich, the stopper moves upwardly to engage one of the rotatable partand the rear end of the second housing when the second housing ispositioned at one of the first and second angular positions, therebypreventing rotation of the rotatable part and the second housing aboutthe first axis, and a disengaging position, in which the stopper movesdownwardly to disengage from the one of the rotatable part and the rearend of the second housing, thereby permitting rotation of the secondhousing and the rotatable part about the first axis; and an urgingmember for urging the stopper to move to the engaging position.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In drawings which illustrate embodiments of the invention,

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a conventional notebook personalcomputer with a pivot-and-positioning assembly;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a first preferred embodiment of anotebook computer with a pivot-and-positioning assembly according tothis invention;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary perspective view illustrating how a stopperengages a rotatable part of the pivot-and-positioning assembly shown inFIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary sectional view illustrating the engagementbetween the stopper and the rotatable part shown in FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary perspective view illustrating how the stopperdisengages from the rotatable part of the pivot-and-positioning assemblyshown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 6 is a sectional view of the stopper shown in FIG. 3;

FIG. 7 is an exploded perspective view of a second preferred embodimentof the electronic device according to this invention, which includes acatch unit with a latch projecting from the stopper shown in FIG. 3 toposition the stopper at an engaging position;

FIG. 8 is an exploded side view of the catch unit shown in FIG. 7;

FIG. 9 is a fragmentary sectional view illustrating how a pair ofclamping arms of the catch unit engage the latch shown in FIG. 7;

FIG. 10 is a fragmentary sectional view illustrating how the clampingarms of the catch unit disengage from the latch shown in FIG. 9;

FIG. 11 is a fragmentary perspective view of a third preferredembodiment of the notebook computer according to this invention, whichincludes a guide protruding from the rotatable part and engageable withan arcuate guiding groove formed in the stopper shown in FIG. 3;

FIG. 12 is a fragmentary sectional view to illustrate how the guidedisengages from the arcuate guiding groove shown in FIG. 11;

FIG. 13 is a fragmentary sectional view to illustrate how the guideengages the arcuate guiding groove shown in FIG. 11;

FIG. 14 is a fragmentary perspective view of a fourth preferredembodiment of the notebook computer according to this invention, whichincludes a latch mounted slidably on the stopper shown in FIG. 3;

FIG. 15 is a fragmentary sectional view illustrating how the latch ofFIG. 14 engages a latch hole in a lug secured to a housing of thenotebook computer of FIG. 3;

FIG. 16 is a fragmentary sectional view illustrating how the latch ofFIG. 14 disengages from the latch hole shown in FIG. 15;

FIG. 17 is a fragmentary perspective view of a fifth preferredembodiment of the notebook computer according to this invention, whichincludes a spring-biased base plate with an engaging groove that isengageable with an engaging tongue formed on the rotatable part shown inFIG. 3;

FIG. 18 is a fragmentary perspective view illustrating how the engaginggroove disengages from the engaging tongue shown in FIG. 17;

FIG. 19 is a fragmentary sectional view of a sixth preferred embodimentof the notebook computer according to this invention, which includes amagnetic latch that is engageable with a latch hole, and a magneticblock embedded in the rotatable part shown in FIG. 3;

FIG. 20 is a fragmentary sectional view illustrating how the magneticlatch disengages from the latch hole by the magnetic block shown in FIG.19;

FIG. 21 is a fragmentary perspective view of a seventh preferredembodiment of the notebook computer according to this invention, whichincludes a stopper modified from that shown in FIG. 3; and

FIG. 22 is a fragmentary perspective view of an eighth preferredembodiment of the notebook computer according to this invention, whichincludes a stopper modified from that shown in FIG. 3.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

For the sake of brevity, like elements are denoted by the same referencenumerals throughout the disclosure.

FIGS. 2 to 6 illustrate a first preferred embodiment of an electronicdevice, such as a notebook computer 2, according to this invention. Thenotebook computer 2 includes: a main board module with a first housing 3having an upper wall 30 and a rear end 301, the upper wall 30 beingformed with a pivot-mounting hole 302 adjacent to the rear end 301 ofthe first housing 3; a rotatable part 41 that is mounted rotatably inthe first housing 3, that projects upwardly through the pivot-mountinghole 302, and that is rotatable relative to the first housing 3 about afirst axis (Z) which extends in a transverse direction relative to theupper wall 30 of the first housing 3; a display module with a secondhousing 4 having two opposite side faces 45, 46, and a rear end 40 thatis pivoted to the rotatable part 41 through a pivot 411 (see FIG. 4) soas to be rotatable relative to the first housing 3 about a second axis(X) which is perpendicular to the first axis (Z) and so as to berotatable together with the rotatable part 41 about the first axis (Z)relative to the first housing 3 between a first angular position, inwhich the side face 45 of the second housing 4 faces frontwardly and theside face 46 faces rearwardly, and a second angular position, in whichthe side face 45 faces rearwardly and the side face 46 facesfrontwardly, the rear ends 301, 40 of the first and second housings 3, 4being substantially parallel to each other when the second housing 4 ispositioned at one of the first and second angular positions; apositioning unit 5 mounted in the first housing 3 and including aspring-biased stopper 51 that is disposed adjacent to the rotatable part41, and that is movable in the transverse direction relative to thefirst housing 3 between an engaging position (see FIGS. 3 and 4), inwhich the stopper 51 moves upwardly to engage the rotatable part 41(note that instead of engaging the rotatable part 41, the stopper 51 canengage the rear end 40 of the second housing 4 in order to achieve thesame function) when the second housing 4 is positioned at one of thefirst and second angular positions, thereby preventing rotation of therotatable part 41 and the second housing 4 about the first axis (Z), anda disengaging position (see FIG. 5), in which the stopper 51 movesdownwardly to disengage from the rotatable part 41, thereby permittingrotation of the second housing 4 and the rotatable part 41 about thefirst axis (Z); and a first urging member 52 including a pair of coilsprings 521 (see FIG. 6) for urging the stopper 51 to move to theengaging position.

The stopper 51 projects through the pivot-mounting hole 302, and has anengaging end 516 with an end face 5160 that extends outwardly of thepivot-mounting hole 302 in the transverse direction and that facesrearwardly. The rotatable part 41 has two opposite engaging ends 412(only one is shown) each of which has an end face 4120 that conforms toand that is in face-to-face contact with the end face 5160 of theengaging end 516 of the stopper 51 when the stopper 51 is positioned atthe engaging position and when the second housing 4 is positioned at oneof the first and second angular positions.

FIGS. 7 and 8 illustrate a second preferred embodiment of the notebookcomputer 2 according to this invention, which has a structure similar tothe first embodiment shown in FIG. 2, except that the positioning unit 5further includes a seat 53 that is mounted securely in the first housing3 below the stopper 51 and that is formed with a pair of through-holes534. The stopper 51 includes a base plate 510 that is exposed from thepivot-mounting hole 302 and that extends in a lateral direction relativeto the upper wall 30 of the first housing 3, and a pair of posts 512extending downwardly from the base plate 510 through the through-holes534, respectively. Each of the coil springs 521 is sleeved around arespective one of the posts 512, and abuts against a periphery of arespective one of the through-holes 534 and the base plate 510.

The positioning unit 5 further includes a catch unit 54 mounted on theseat 53 between the through-holes 534 and including a casing 542 that isformed with an upper opening 5420, and a spring biased catch 541 mountedslidably in the casing 542 and formed with a pair of elastic clampingarms 545. A second urging member 544 is disposed in the casing 542 forurging the catch 541 to move upwardly away from the upper opening 5420.The clamping arms 545 cooperate with each other to define a clampingspace 5450 therebetween, and have opposite end faces 5451 that arespaced apart from each other by a width greater than that of the upperopening 5420 in the casing 542. The stopper 51 further includes a latch55 that extends downwardly from the base plate 510 into the clampingspace 5450 and that abuts against the catch 541. The catch 541 isslidable between a catch position (see FIG. 10), in which the clampingarms 545 move into the casing 542 through the upper opening 5420, andare pressed by the casing 542 to move elastically toward each other toclamp the latch 55 when the stopper 51 is moved downwardly to thedisengaging position, thereby preventing upward movement of the stopper51 to the engaging position, and a release position (see FIG. 9), inwhich the clamping arms 545 are moved out of the casing 542 by urgingaction of the second urging member 544 and are released from the casing542 to move elastically away from each other to release the latch 55,thereby permitting upward movement of the stopper 51 to the engagingposition. The catch 541 is formed with a generally heart-shaped groove546 defined by a groove-defining wall and having a first end and asecond end that is opposite to the first end and that is disposedadjacent to the clamping arms 545. The groove-defining wall is formedwith first and second steps 5461, 5462 at the first and second ends ofthe heart-shaped groove 546, respectively. The casing 542 is formed witha boss 548 that slidably engages the heart-shaped groove 546 in such amanner that the boss 548 engages the first step 5461 of thegroove-defining wall and is prevented from moving along the heart-shapedgroove 546 when the catch 541 is disposed at the release position andthat the boss 548 engages the second step 5462 of the groove-definingwall and is prevented from moving along the heart-shaped groove 546 whenthe catch 541 is disposed at the catch position, thereby retaining thecatch 541 on the casing 542 and controlling movement of the catch 541relative to the casing 542.

FIGS. 11 to 13 illustrate a third preferred embodiment of the notebookcomputer 2 according to this invention, which has a structure that issimilar to the first embodiment shown in FIG. 2, except that the baseplate 510 of the stopper 51 is formed with an arcuate guiding groove 514that opens upwardly and that has two opposite ends 5140. The rotatablepart 41 is formed with a pair of opposing guides 413 that protrudedownwardly from an adjacent one of the engaging ends 412 of therotatable part 41 and that are laterally and respectively aligned withthe opposite ends 5140 of the guiding groove 514 (see FIG. 11) when thestopper 51 is positioned at the disengaging position so as to permitreceiving of one of the guides 413 into the guiding groove 514 (see FIG.13) during rotation of the second housing 4 together with the rotatablepart 41 about the first axis (Z), thereby facilitating rotation of thesecond housing 4 from one of the first and second angular positions tothe other of the first and second angular positions.

FIGS. 14 to 16 illustrate a fourth preferred embodiment of the notebookcomputer 2 according to this invention, which has a structure that issimilar to the first preferred embodiment shown in FIG. 2, except thatthe base plate 510 of the stopper 51 is formed with a recess 515 thatopens upwardly and that is defined by a recess-defining wall which isformed with a laterally extending slit 516. The positioning unit 5further includes a latch 56 that has a head 561 received in the recess515 and spanning the slit 516, a shank 563 extending downwardly from thehead 561 through the slit 516, and a tail 562 extending laterally fromthe shank 563. A lug 33 projects downwardly and inwardly from the upperwall 30 of the first housing 3, and is disposed adjacent to the latch56. The lug 33 is formed with a latch hole 31. The latch 56 is slidablealong the length of the slit 516 between a locking position (see FIG.15), in which the tail 562 of the latch 56 moves into and engages thelatch hole 31 when the stopper 51 is positioned at the disengagingposition, thereby preventing upward movement of the stopper 51 to theengaging position, and an unlocking position (see FIG. 16), in which thetail moves away and disengages from the latch hole 31, therebypermitting upward movement of the stopper 51 to the engaging position.

FIGS. 17 and 18 illustrate a fifth preferred embodiment of the notebookcomputer 2 according to this invention, which has a structure modifiedfrom the first preferred embodiment shown in FIG. 2. In this embodiment,the rotatable part 41 is formed with a pair of opposing laterallyextending engaging tongues 414. The stopper 51 includes a spring-biasedbase plate 62 that is urged by the first urging member 52, and that isformed with an engaging groove 621 which receives and engages anadjacent one of the engaging tongues 414 when the stopper 51 ispositioned at the engaging position (see FIG. 17) and when the secondhousing 4 is positioned at one of the first and second angularpositions, thereby preventing rotation of the second housing 4 about thefirst axis (Z). The engaging groove 621 moves away and disengages fromthe adjacent one of the engaging tongues 414 (see FIG. 18) when thestopper 51 is moved downwardly to the disengaging position, therebypermitting rotation of the second housing 4 about the first axis (Z). Abutton 61 projects upwardly from the base plate 62 through thepivot-mounting hole 302 in the upper wall 30 of the first housing 3 soas to facilitate operation of the stopper 51.

FIGS. 19 and 20 illustrate a sixth preferred embodiment of the notebookcomputer 2 according to this invention, which has a structure that issimilar to the first embodiment shown in FIG. 2, except that thepositioning unit 5 further includes a pair of magnetic Z-shaped latches8, each of which has two opposite ends 81, 82, and a pair of secondurging members 522, each of which has two opposite ends connected to andabutting respectively against the base plate 510 and the end 81 of arespective one of the Z-shaped latch 8. The positioning unit 5 furtherincludes a pair of lugs 53 mounted securely in the first housing 3 anddisposed adjacent to the respective latches 8. Each lug 53 is formedwith a latch hole 538 that receives and that engages the end 82 of arespective Z-shaped latch 8 (see FIG. 19) when the stopper 51 ispositioned at the disengaging position, thereby preventing upwardmovement of the stopper 51 to the engaging position. A magnetic block 7is embedded in the rotatable part 41, is offset from the Z-shapedlatches 8 when the second housing 4 is positioned at one of the firstand second angular positions, and is vertically aligned with theZ-shaped latches 8 when the second housing 4 moves to a middle angularposition between the first and second angular positions (see FIG. 20) soas to attract each Z-shaped latch 8 to move away from the respectivelatch hole 538 and so as to permit disengagement of the end 82 of eachZ-shaped latch 8 from the respective latch hole 538, thereby permittingupward movement of the stopper 51 to the engaging position.

FIG. 21 illustrates a seventh preferred embodiment of the notebookcomputer 2 according to this invention, which has a structure that ismodified from the first preferred embodiment shown in FIG. 2. In thisembodiment, the upper wall 30 of the first housing 3 is formed with acircular pivot-mounting hole 302 defined by a hole-defining wall 3020.Each engaging end 412 of the rotatable part 41 has a first engaging endface 4120 that cooperates with a segment of the hole-defining wall 3020to confine a sector 3021 of the pivot-mounting hole 302. The stopper 51has a second engaging end face 517 and a shape conforming to that of thesector 3021 of the pivot-mounting hole 302, and is mounted pivotally onthe first housing 3 adjacent to the pivot-mounting hole 302 so as to berotatable between an engaging position, in which the stopper 51 isreceived in the sector 3021 of the pivot-mounting hole 302 and in whichthe first and second engaging end faces 4120, 517 are in face-to-facecontact with each other when the second housing 4 is positioned at oneof the first and second angular positions, thereby preventing rotationof the second housing 4 and the rotatable part 41 about the first axis(Z), and a disengaging position, in which the stopper 51 is moved out ofthe sector 3021 of the pivot-mounting hole 302, thereby permittingrotation of the second housing 4 and the rotatable part 41 about thefirst axis (Z).

FIG. 22 illustrates an eighth preferred embodiment of the notebookcomputer 2 according to this invention, which is modified from the firstembodiment shown in FIG. 2. In this embodiment, the upper wall 30 of thefirst housing 3 is further formed with a retaining groove 11 adjacent tothe pivot-mounting hole 302. Each engaging end 412 of the rotatable part41 has two opposite ends 415, each of which is formed with an engaginggroove 416 (only one is shown). The stopper 51 is slidably mounted inthe retaining groove 11, and is slidable between an engaging position,in which the stopper 51 extends into and engages the engaging groove 416in an adjacent one of the ends 415 of the rotatable part 41 when thesecond housing 4 is positioned at a corresponding one of the first andsecond angular positions, thereby preventing rotation of the secondhousing 4 and the rotatable part 41 about the first axis (Z), and adisengaging position, in which the stopper 51 moves out of anddisengages from the engaging groove 416, thereby permitting rotation ofthe second housing 4 and the rotatable part 41 about the first axis (Z).

Since the stopper 51 of the positioning unit 5 of the notebook computer2 of this invention is mounted movably on the upper wall 30 of the firsthousing 3, rotation of the second housing 4 about the second axis (X) toa closed position relative to the first housing 3 results in pressingand thus downward movement of the stopper 51, thereby preventingpossible damage to the screen of the display module. Moreover, theaforesaid undesired rubbing between the auxiliary positioning member andthe display module as encountered in the prior art can be eliminated.

With the invention thus explained, it is apparent that variousmodifications and variations can be made without departing from thespirit of the present invention.

1. An electronic device comprising: a first housing having an upper walland a rear end, said upper wall being formed with a circularpivot-mounting hole adjacent to said rear end of said first housing,said pivot-mounting hole being defined by a hole-defining wall; a pivotunit being rotatably mounted in said housing and including a rotatablepart that projects upwardly through said pivot-mounting hole and that isrotatable relative to said first housing about a first axis whichextends in a transverse direction relative to said upper wall of saidfirst housing, said rotatable part having a first engaging end face thatcooperates with a segment of said hole-defining wall to confine a sectorof said pivot-mounting hole; a second housing having a rear end that ispivoted to said rotatable part so as to be rotatable relative to saidfirst housing about a second axis which is perpendicular to said firstaxis and so as to be rotatable together with said rotatable part aboutsaid first axis relative to said first housing between first and secondangular positions; and a positioning unit including a stopper that has ashape conforming to that of said sector of said pivot-mounting hole,that has a second engaging end face, and that is mounted pivotally onsaid first housing adjacent to said pivot-mounting hole so as to berotatable between an engaging position, in which said stopper isreceived in said sector of said pivot-mounting hole and in which saidfirst and second engaging end faces are in face-to-face contact witheach other when said second housing is positioned at one of said firstand second angular positions, thereby preventing rotation of said secondhousing and said rotatable part about said first axis, and a disengagingposition, in which said stopper is moved out of said sector of saidpivot-mounting hole, thereby permitting rotation of said second housingand said rotatable part about said first axis.